What is a title sequence and what is the purpose?
The purpose of a title sequence is tell the viewers the names of the people (actors, directors, writers, etc.) and organization that are part of the film. The title sequence is a part of the movie’s intro that is dedicated to crediting the cast and crew and displaying a title card. The title sequence is also used to establish a tone (genre) of the the film. They do this with the fonts, imagery, and sounds.
How is a title sequence different from an opening?
According to Studio Binder, the Opening credits are the names of the cast and crew, producers, studios, etc. that are displayed on-screen. These can be superimposed over an opening scene, over a black screen, or over a still background.
Saul Bass – why is his work so influential?
Saul Bass (May 8, 1920 — April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and filmmaker, he is best known for his design of film posters and title sequences.
During his career, he worked for some of Hollywood’s greatest filmmakers, This included Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, and Martin Scorsese. He became well-known in the film industry after creating the title sequence for Otto Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm in 1955. For Alfred Hitchcock, Bass designed effective and memorable title sequences, inventing a new type of kinetic typography, for North by Northwest, Vertigo (working with John Whitney), and Psycho.
Movie Title: Seven (styled as Se7en)
Distributor: New Line Cinema (Time Warner Company)
Year of release: 1995
Starring: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey, R. Lee Ermey, and John C. McGinley.
Seven is a neo-noir psychological crime thriller. The film revolves around an about-to-retire senior detective and his newly stationed partner solving and tracking down crimes of a serial killer that uses the seven deadly sins as his theme for his murders.
In Se7en, we swiftly get introduced into an eerie atmosphere. This is made through the usage of weird-looking, distorted images. The color scheme throughout the whole title sequence are dark colors like black and red. These colors symbolize darkness and usually red is associated with blood.
The titles are transitioned using a fade on the screen, the fonts of the text are sans-sariff,
which creates a feeling of distortion. They also used unconventional angles of everyday items like this book (see screenshot). The font choice also help to establish the whole tone of the film which is chaotic and bloody.
The editors of the title sequence used lowkey lighting to create a chiaroscuro effect. This is when there is strong contrast of light and dark colors to give definition of three dimensional objects.
The great contrast in the colors create a sense of conflict between what right and wrong, which is befitting of the antagonist as he unlawfully punishes people for their sins.
There are multiple things happening in the sequence but the table top shot helps the audience to somehow distinguish what's happening. There is also a lot of extreme close-up shots, this shows importance to details on the screen like the blade, fingers wrapped in gauzes. There is also a usage of superimposing in the part wherein John Doe is writing. This is an implication that time has passed by and also a foreshadowing that in the movie there might be writings. Furthermore, the stress on this shot can also illustrate the altered thinking of John Doe because (SPOILER!!) he is a psychopath. We can tell that he's very particular with how he does his work as he has titled all pages in the notebook. All the props in the title sequence establishes the character of the antagonist.
The details in the title sequence is very well utilized as all of it links to what he does in his murders. My favorite part of the sequence is the end wherein there is a dollar bill getting the word "God" cut. This introduces the theme of religion in the film, and the movie se7en uses the 7 Godly Sins as a main element of the film.
Below is the title sequence of Se7en
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